1950s American Horror Part Twenty-Five - (Nathan H. Juran Edition)

THE DEADLY MANTIS
(1957)
Overall: WOOF

Another cookie-cutter snooze-fest of a giant monster movie, Universal's The Deadly Mantis was the first of several in the science fiction vein to be directed by Nathan H. Juran.  Written by Martin Berkely, (who had also authored the interchangeably lackluster and similar Tarantula two years earlier), and based off of a story concept by producer William Alland, it delivers the over-sized arthropod of the title yet sadly only does so for maybe a grand total of six minutes.  The hydraulic, papier mâché model work is goofy looking and persistently unconvincing when it does show up, yet the production at least had the good sense to use an actual praying mantis for a brief moment where it climbs the Washington Monument.  Elsewhere, it is the usual combination of military stock footage and unrecognizable, Caucasian B-actors delivering exasperatingly dull dialog to each other while standing in rooms.  When the big, silly looking monster is flying through the air as fighter jet clips from other movies are utilized to make it look like a heart-racing battle is happening, the film almost livens up to remind the viewer that they are watching some factory-assembled camp.  It is more likely though that you will be too bored to even notice that such an aviation vs insect showdown is even happening in the first place.

 

20 MILLION MILES TO EARTH
(1957)
Dir - Nathan Juran/Ray Harryhausen/Charles H. Schneer
Overall: MEH

The first of three collaborations between stop-motion artist Ray Harryhausen, producer Charles H. Schneer, and director Nathan H. Juran, 20 Million Miles to Earth, (The Beast from Space), is a highlight for some of its effects work, but otherwise standard to lackluster.  Filming was broken up between Italy and the US, with the former allegedly being chosen because Harryhausen, (who initially pitched the story concept), wanted to vacation there.  This resulted in different sequences being directed by three different people, depending on the locale.  Not that it matters though since the narrative merely serves the purpose of getting us to the next monster-go-smashy set piece and thankfully there are several of them to enjoy.  The beast here, (which was originally refereed to as a Ymir after Norse mythology), is a splendid and unique creation from Harryhausen as it grows exponentially throughout the movie.  It also garnishes the audience's sympathy early on when it is relatively harmless, up until it is hunted down by the military who keep forgetting that bullets do absolutely nothing to harm it.  As far as the characters and the plot go, it is wooden and flimsy stuff, but the pacing is agreeable for a change and Golden Era Hollywood giant monster fans will have plenty to savor.

 

THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS

(1957)

Dir - Nathan H. Juran

Overall: MEH

 

An alien possession B-movie done on the cheap, The Brain from Planet Arous takes unofficial inspiration from the 1949 novel Needle by Hal Clement and is an equally dopey and talky effort, but its plot is wacky enough to remain amusing.  The evil, extraterrestrial brain of the title hangs out in a cave until a scientist happens to walk in there and then proceeds to take him over, proclaiming that he was carefully chosen even though his walking into said cave was an arbitrary act.  Then a useless yet good hovering brain shows up, possesses a dog, and follows the evil brain/scientist guy around while being in cahoots with his fiance and soon-to-be father in law.  This has plenty of unintentionally outrageous details to laugh at considering that the bad alien favors aggressive smooching, is prone to megalomaniacal outbursts, can explode entire cities by looking at them with silver eyeballs, and is ultimately outwitted by his host body merely overcoming him with an axe.  Director Nathan H. Juran never leans into the inherent schlock of the whole thing, but John Agar thankfully gets to mug it up in his dual role while Dale Tate's alien voice-over indulges in "all of you puny humans will be my slave" type of dialog.

ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN
(1958)
Dir - Nathan Hertz
Overall: MEH
 
Allied Artists jumps on the bandwagon with Attack of the 50 Foot Woman; yet another sci-fi B-movie with a "human is a different size than they should be" gimmick.  This time the victim is a female who comes in contact with a glowing sphere with a creepy bald giant nestling inside of it.  Whatever that is about.  As is usual for these drive-in yarns, the first act is a slog and primarily focuses on a scumbag husband and his mistress, while his wife, (the eventual fifty-foot title woman), is persistently agitated that no one believes what she saw.  Things eventually start to get amusingly odd, but it is still mostly doctors and police officials standing around talking about things as we wait and wait and wait for the action promised on the movie poster to start happening.  Which it finally does...fifty-six minutes in.  Definitely a case of too little too late, the script by Mark Hanna feels padded despite some quirky details and an unmistakable, quasi-cautionary theme of emotionally frail women who are pushed to the point of vengeance.  Plus, how did Allison Hayes grow a scantily-clad outfit that she does not wear at any other time in the film?  Probably the same reason that Bruce Banner's jeans never exploded off of him when he turns into the Hulk.

1970s American Horror Part Forty-Five

COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT

(1970)

Dir - Joseph Sargent

Overall: GOOD

A computer takeover thriller from director Joseph Sargent, Colossus: The Forbin Project is predictable in its plot construction yet still provides some cautionary, intense moments.  An adaptation of Daniel Feltham Jones' novel Colossus, it serves as the colder cousin to Stanley Kubrick's seminal Dr. Strangelove as it primary plays out via board room meetings between politicians and scientists who are doing everything in their power to not have a super draconian, AI computer system launch nuclear bombs across the globe.  While there is still some humor to be had in the first act where Eric Braeden seems physically incapable of not smirking and later on when he convinces the machine of the title that he needs unmonitored alone time to snuggle up to a fake mistress, (both of whom are forced to sleep in the nude), it is still a straight-faced affair overall.  Some of this is to the movie's detriment as scenes blend into each other in a repetitive fashion due to the isolated presentation, but the tension is gradually increased until a memorable finale that is in sharp contrast to a conventional "feel good" one.  Lastly, the premise itself easily resonates decades later when the rise of artificial intelligence and humankind's hopeless reliance on technology is as steadfast as ever.

 

ASYLUM OF SATAN

(1972)

Dir - William Girdler
Overall: MEH
 
For his second pile of crap Asylum of Satan, (The Satan Spectrum), Kentucky-based director/co-writer William Girdler puts together a tale a young woman who gets transferred to a shady insane asylum, (Are there any other kind?), while her schlubby Not Rob "Meathead" Reiner fiance tries in vain to track her down.  The asylum in question is actually a spacious manor house and Girdler makes the most out of having Carla Borelli walk around it at night, running into a mutilated werewolf or something, a ghostly rocking chair, and a creepy guy in full Anton LeVay garb.  So as the title would suggest, yes, the ridiculous story also manages to throw the Great Deceiver into the mix, as well as various wacky patient deaths that are elaborate for the sake of giving the audience some exploitation value.  As is the case with most if not all regional B-movies, the ambitions exceed the means and Girdler lacks both the skills and budget to pull off anything competent.  Still, the movie has a sleazy, bottom-barrel charm to it and has several moments to laugh at, plus chanted, robed, fog-ridden, candle-lit Satanic rituals in basements are always fun.

THE BOY WHO CRIED WEREWOLF

(1973)

Dir - Nathan Juran

Overall: WOOF

Easily one of the most boring and misguided films to explore lycanthropian themes, The Boy Who Cried Werewolf balances marital drama with counter culture religion in a backwoods setting, all but forgetting that it is supposed to be a scary wolfman movie in the process.  The primary angle and most immediate problem that Bob Homel's script takes is in utilizing one of the more tired and annoying cliches in the horror genre, that of a character, (almost always a woman or child), being persistently treated with indifference and scorn every time that they try to convince anyone that otherworldly things are occurring.  As the title would suggest, a boy does indeed cry werewolf over and over again to every adult on screen, none of whom listen until such shenanigans are directly happening in front of them.  Oh wait, they STILL fail to listen even then, instead continuing to think it must have been a large animal or something.  This all leaves little Scott Sealey with no other choice but to be incredibly obnoxious in all of his scenes, scenes that are surrounded by relentlessly talky nonsense and a small handful of moments where Kerwin Mathews nonchalantly portrays one of the least aggressive werewolves in cinema history.  The pacing is just dreadful and any audience member would be wholly justified in giving up once a settlement of Jesus-loving hippies shows up to talk about how groovy the Lord is and how they are going to pray the devil away while living off the land while being high on god.

1950s Boris Karloff Part Two

THE BLACK CASTLE
(1952)
Dir - Nathan H. Juran
Overall: MEH

Another forgettable, later installment in Universal's horror camp, The Black Castle brings Boris Karloff and Lon Chaney Jr. together, both in minor rolls.  Out of the two, Chaney is more sidetracked in just a small handful of scenes, once again playing a mute brute who finds a grisly end.  Karloff does respectable work as a benevolent doctor, cleverly coming off as perhaps another sinister presence earlier on.  Elsewhere, it is only a moderately interesting story involving a cruel, sadistic Count with a deformity and a dashingly handsome British Baron, both of whom want revenge on each other.  Naturally, two characters fall in love almost immediately as well since what period-piece melodrama would be complete without such a detail?  There is a pit of hungry crocodiles or alligators and premature burial is hinted at, so the macabre elements are present to be sure.  As nice as it is to see Karloff and Chaney in the genre that made both men famous, The Black Castle is not very engrossing though and by this time Universal was phasing out its Gothic horror outings altogether which had peaked at least a decade before, giving this somewhat of a "scraping the barrel" feel.

VOODOO ISLAND
(1957)
Dir - Reginald Le Borg
Overall: MEH

Bel-Air Productions' three movie deal with Boris Karloff got off to a limbering, lackluster start with Voodoo Island.  Austrian-born director Reginald Le Borg, (The Mummy's Ghost, The Black Sleep, Diary of a Madman), concocts virtually zero suspense, even with a scene of a woman taking a swim for no reason and then getting hugged to death by giant, plastic foliage which also barely gets an excitable response from the rest of the cast.  In his defense though, the script that he is working with is so steadily uninteresting that all of the fake killer plants in the world could not save it from being a snore.  For his part, Karloff actually is not playing a doctor this time, but instead a professional skeptic with a television show.  Though his involvement with the plot is as sketchy as any other detail.  The rest of the characters are barely worth paying attention to, though similar to Karloff's comparatively against type role, character actor Elisha Cook Jr. is pleasantly NOT playing a drunk bum that is terrified of everything.  The most noteworthy aspect is that this was the first film appearance of Adam West, but he got shafted anyway by remaining uncredited.

THE HAUNTED STRANGLER
(1958)
Dir - Robert Day
Overall: GOOD

Boris Karloff was rarely as aggressive on screen as he was in Amalgamated Productions' The Haunted Strangler, (aka Grip of the Strangler), one of if not his very last physically demanding performances.  As an obsessed novelist turned violently manic murderer, Karloff is his usual calm, charming self initially, but spends the better part of the later half practically more wild and unhinged than he ever was before.  Contorting his face to near-comical proportions, ranting and raving as he is locked up and put in a straight-jacket, and frantically murdering both randoms and those close to him, it is a riveting portrayal from the then seventy-one year old horror icon.  Directed by Robert Day, (who worked with Karloff again for the studio in the same year's Corridors of Blood), there is really not much else of note in the production, with the script teetering on being a bit too sloppy to really work and none of the other characters come remotely close to being anything except forgettable.  Thankfully though, it is a case where Karloff's work alone is more than enough to recommend the film as a whole.